TechnoTechnoTechnoTechno

Can't think of anything else to call this weekend. It was another Osaka weekend. I'm really starting to feel familiar with bits of the city, when I travel away from Kansai and come back to the station, it's not like im 'home' but its a place where I can relax and feel comfortable. It's great for shopping as well, round the South side of town everything's within walking distance. Saturday was shit and drizzly, but armed with the traditional Japanese seethrough umbrellas we checked Minami Horie, the slightly more upmarket side of town beyond Amemura (Hysteric Glamour's flagship in particular is really cool, 3 stories tucked into an interesting building with ramps and stairs half outside half in.):



We went to the Kirin Plaza Osaka for a drink. It's a good looking building with a gallery in and things but at the bottom they have a little bar cafe where they brew 4 of their own microbrews in different styles: Pils, Stout, Weiss and Ale, and you can see some of the brewing tanks from the bar. The little beer set on the left, you can't see the scale in the picture, but each glass is probably less than a quarter of a pint. Under each glass is a paragraph about the style of beer, where it's from and it's history etc, another example of Japan's fascination with providing detailed information on everything.

Checked out a club I hadn't been to before, Saza*e, which is a stylish kind of place, 3 floors, with the top one being a little private bar with a small pool (???) inside. Music was techno, I'm not so into that but the crowd was good. I like the beats (although a bit fast) but I just want someone to break out the guiro or agogo or something, kind of lacking in the rhythms. There was a wedding reception in the upstairs bar up til a bit after 11, and some guests stayed around, so along with your clubbers you've got guys all suited up and girls in delicate heels and wedding dresses jumping around to techno. (The music was like a more energetic version of Peep Show 'he's taking it up, he's taking it up! he's bringing it doooown, bringing it down.') Met a cool group of people through friends of friends and good times were had by all. Later on, on the stage, there were two guys dressed only in elaborate necklaces, chains round their waists and little thongs, dancing with massive feather boas. The thing was, neither really looked like they were enjoying it, one in particular just looked like a salaryman who wanted to go home. There were a couple of girls on a back stage doing a meek little cat dance, but everybody in the room was loving the guys. Later all four of them changed costumes to S&M gear and they got on stage, with Mr Embarressed whipping one of the girls as the other guy pretended to do something rather rude to the other girl. It was all very polite and Japanese.



A kind friend of a friend, 'I will go everywhere for fun' Yusuke, let us crash at his apartment for a few hours sleep early in the morning in nearby Bentencho. Sunday just a hangover curing ramen lunch (kimchi tabehoudai, get in) then back to a different station where I left my car. I realised if I drive another half hour, the station there has twice the amount of trains, which is nice when you frequently miss them like I do.

Got a new camera this weekend, I realised when I saw how shockingly bad the picture of Harborland was in the last post that it was time. I've been wanting a DSLR like Dylan's so badly, but looking back through my blog I saw that there was no way that I could take an SLR to the type of places where I usually take pictures. So I got the FujiFinepix 31d, in Yodobashi camera, a huuuge 7 floor electronics store in Umeda. It's advertised by Ebihara Yuri, who my friend is obsessed with (I think he nearly bought it for himself as well). Anyway, the camera itself looks kind of boring but apparently its the best little camera for indoor pics without a flash in bars and stuff, it's really sensitive. Let's hope so! Here's a test pic I took in a little bar called 'mojo bar' before I was mocked by the others for playing with my new camera taking pictures of... pretty much nothing. I call this 'lonely beer' (at ISO 1600, fellow geeks). Love the abbey road sign. It's not a bad pic but not amazing, hopefully I'll figure out how to take good pics with it.



An aside - there are 'gaijin bars' in japan, generally not fantastic places (though there must be exceptions) which are mainly for expats. Anyway the guy who runs this bar has a sign outside to make it clear that this isn't his idea for this place, he just loves the beatles (well actually the whole of Japan seems to love the beatles but his love is special) and the UK round about the sixties/seventies. Says something like 'Everybody, this is not a "gaijin bar". There are many of those elsewhere. It is a normal bar based on Liverpool and the beatles. However everybody is welcome inside.' The honesty of his sign, his excellent long hair and barmaids in their hippy-esque dresses makes me like the place. The whole place is a time warp, reminds me of my parents' student pictures. Carling on tap too, just like home (is that a good thing?)

Anyway, with my camera I got the BEST freebie ever, a tripod adaptor that you stick on the top of a drinks bottle! Amazing.